Six USC players face larceny charges

Their mug shots began popping up on the Internet late Thursday evening, a white-background collection of stoic expressions with intense stares.

Suddenly, the Nov. 22 theft of $18,000 worth of University of South Carolina property was personal.

By the end of a whirlwind day, five of the six USC football players implicated earlier Thursday afternoon in the looting of the Williams-Brice Stadium home locker room area -- quarterbacks Syvelle Newton and Dondrial Pinkins, linemen Woodly Telfort and Freddy Saint-Preux and linebacker Rodriques Wilson -- had been served arrest warrants, charged with a form of larceny and were to have been released on bond.

They and other enraged teammates had stormed out of a team meeting that November night after learning the team would be withheld from bowl participation because of an on-field brawl against Clemson.

Yet these photographed players' faces had been sapped of animation, a likely product of the ramifications for their alleged actions.

"I regret very much that these incidents occurred, and they certainly cast a negative light," school president Andrew Sorensen said in a prepared statement.

That light glared off the photographed foreheads of the five, who are alleged to have stolen items that included three laptops, two video projectors and about a dozen framed enlarged pictures.

The sixth player, senior tight end Brian Brownlee of Abbeville, was out of state and is scheduled to return today to go through the same process.

Telfort, a junior from Miami, Fla., was charged with grand larceny, a felony. He admitted to investigators that he took a $4,000 laptop, according to an arrest warrant, and could face up to five years in prison if convicted.

The other four were charged with misdemeanor, petty larceny (for items totaling less than $1,000) after confessing to theft of photos.

The five players identified publicly -- Brownlee was not -- were arraigned at Alvin S. Glenn Detention Center at around 8 p.m. Thursday night.

All five, speaking to a judge separately through a hole in the bail hearing room's fenced wall, were to be released on bond afterward.

The players sat beside each other in chairs, waiting their turn, as hearing for eight other people were held on charges ranging from assault to shoplifting.

"These five kids have never been in trouble," Joshua Snow Kendrick, one of the lawyers representing the players, said. "They're all model student-athletes. They've been successful on and off the field."

In South Carolina, petty larceny carries a maximum of 30 days in jail and a $1,000 fine.

Athletes who don't have a previous conviction typically are advised to apply for Pre-Trial Intervention, a program allowing them to clear their record through community service.

They face punishment in other arenas, too.

Three of the players still have eligibility remaining.

Newton -- a sophomore out of Marlboro County who started five games last season -- and Saint-Preux, a junior from Brooklyn, N.Y., have been suspended at least until the charges are resolved, athletic director Mike McGee said.

Telfort has been suspended indefinitely.

Saint-Preux and Telfort were already slated to miss the Gamecocks' Sept. 1 opener against Central Florida because of their involvement in an on-field brawl against Clemson that led to the school-mandated bowl ban.

McGee met with the team at about 6:30 p.m. Nov. 22 to disclose the school's decision, after which the thefts occurred.

A Herald-Journal article in the next day's edition reported that Wilson, one of the last to leave the locker room, had a photo of himself in the back of his vehicle.

Pinkins departed minutes before Wilson and was curt in responding to a reporter's questions before speeding off.

Pinkins and Wilson were both seniors on the 2004 team. Wilson, a Cross native, graduated, while Pinkins, a Camilla, Ga., product, has remained in school to complete the three hours needed toward his degree.

Along with criminal charges, Telfort, Newton, Pinkins and Saint-Preux will face disciplinary hearings from the university.

McGee, who announced his retirement plans Tuesday, took some blame for conditions that preceded the thefts, saying construction of the stadium's south end zone project left the area too wide open.

"Regrettably, a few our student-athletes made a very poor decision during the course of a frustrating situation and they must now face the consequences," McGee said. "As director of athletics, I accept responsibility for this mistake."

All five pieces of equipment have been returned to the school, McGee said.

Athletic department spokesman Kerry Tharp said all photos are believed to have been repossessed as well, although the school isn't sure because it didn't have a reliable inventory before the theft.

After the thefts were first reported, USC said all items had been returned, then later reported some were still missing. Sorensen then ordered an investigation by university police.

"A few of our players made a terrible decision on how to deal with their frustrations," said coach Steve Spurrier, whose hiring to replace Lou Holtz was announced the morning after the thefts.

"Hopefully, we'll never have a situation like this happen again."

The Associated Press contributed to this story.

Paul Strelow can be reached at 562-7242 or paul.strelow@shj.com.

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